Saturday, December 01, 2012

Hello and welcome to issue
#1249 of Edi's Weekend Wave.
From reading point of view I have had a good start into the week. It changed in the night from Tuesday to Wednesday. I woke up with a sore throat and without voice. I drank a lot of tea and my voice returned partially. On Thursday morning I went to the doctor who sent me home immediately. I had to take antibiotics. I still suffer from a sore throat and a severe cold. I sneezed that nuch that I got sore muscles.
Now you know the reason why this issue of the is a lot shorter than usual.
I hope to recover soon.

Dear readers, I'm the one to tell you
about books - only books?
What about novellas and other
stuff? My name is Bona.
I scour shelves, shops
and the net for books. If you call
me a book whore I
would not gainsay you. But be aware I
have my own, sometimes elusive
taste.

Digital copies of three books found a new home on my reader last week.

It is nice when authors com back to you after you have reviewed one of his/her books. That means that they have been satisfied with the delivery. In August I reviewed the fantasy novel The Brotherhood of Piaxia by Michael Drakich. Recently he came back to me with a new novel. I expected fantasy and so I have been surprised when I read the blurb of Grave is the Day (available at Smashwords and Amazon Kindle and paperback).

"In October of 1957, more than Sputnik fell to Earth... Set against the
back drop of the Space Race and the Cold War, both the United States and
the Soviet Union have a new issue to deal with, aliens from outer
space. Both the Braannoo and the Muurgu are at war with each other and
Earth becomes the newest battleground in their struggle. Spanning time
from the launch of Sputnik to the near future, the interplay of
historical events from a new light make you ask the question, could this
all be true? The capture of aliens near small town USA unites three
players from different quarters, Commander Kraanox of the Braannoo,
First Lieutenant Wayne Bucknell as his captor and seven year old Justin
Spencer, the first to make alien contact." [Source]

And this is the book trailer
I could not withstand and accepted to read and review it. It seems I have to postpone it a bit as I lost several days due to my sore throat and my severe cold.

Despite that I bought two digital copies of the first two books in the Sauder Diaries series by Michel R. Vaillancourt.
The series opens with By Any Other Name (digital, 2nd edition 11th June 2012) [Amazon Kindle ASIN: B008AP8VJE].

"A pirate-infused steampunk world, rooted in the historical fabric of Victorian Europe, in which the Crimean War ended with a stalemate and not a victory. Airships and clockwork mechanisms are the technology of the future, mad scientists and engine-driven dragons run rampant, and Russia stands tall as the supermenace overshadowing the world. Living amidst this vivid, turbulent clockwork world is Hans Sauder, a gentleman's son and German expat. While en route to University to study engineering, his airship is waylaid by the nefarious pirate ship The Bloody Rose. Confronted with a choice to either join the crew or be tossed overboard into the most volatile wilds of Europe, Hans reluctantly steps into the role of a pirate.As he is given the kind of education no university could have prepared him for, Hans finds himself at the center of a paradoxical world, where the Captain conducts piracy with a gentleman's keen business sense, the most lethal crew members are the women, and the dark underbelly of a "peaceful" Europe is exposed at every turn.As the story unfolds, Hans' new life is further complicated by the romantic advances of the leader of the ship's gunner-marines, a ruthless and no-nonsense woman with a chip on her shoulder. As well, Hans is perpetually dogged by a deep conflict between his sense of morals and duty to his family, and the challenges and adventure of this new life he has discovered." [Source]

This is the book trailer for the first book.

After reading the description of the first book it was out of question that I bought a copy of the second book within minutes.
The series continues with A Bloodier Rose (digital, 1st edition (25th October 2012) [Amazon Kindle ASIN: B009NI33R2].

"Set in the summer of 1888, A Bloodier Rose is the second book in The Sauder Diaries series. Picking up where By Any Other Name left off, Hans, Annika and the rest of the crew of the pirate airship “Bloody Rose” are once again called upon by the Allied Empires. An ancient weather weapon is at risk of falling into the hands of the Russian Empire, and the pirates are in a race against time, traveling from Europe to America then North Africa, to uncover its location and unlock its secrets. Along the way, the unthinkable happens and Hans Sauder is forced to reconsider his very place within the crew, and the life he has chosen as an airship pirate. The choices he makes, as the Bloody Rose finds herself trapped between two empires inching towards war, will affect the lives of his friends and crewmates forever." [Source]

I hope the Sauder Diaries series will not fail my expectations. I like the bluebs and I like the covers which create a certain mood in me. But maybe that is only the essence of pills and too much sneezing.

No more today, see you next week ......

Blogosphere
Hey, I'm Bona Fide. I just
came back from my last foray
through the blogosphere. What
can you expect from me? I tell
you: Everything from Art to
Fart as long as there is any
faint connection to books. And here
is some honey from the
beehive blogosphere...

Do you belong to the people who always pursuit of perfection? Fortunately this is not a problem for me. But what happens with an author who even wants to change books after release date?
Author Rosalie Skinner shared her thoughts about this topic in following post

Hi Edi, Sorry to hear you haven't been well. Not much fun.We have been enjoying a heat wave here, but people are still getting the flu. Thanks for dropping by my blog.Your comment helped me step away from the computer. :)I discovered the consensus of opinion was to leave things alone.